Lin Heung Tea House - Fighting the dim sum war

I'm the sort of traveller who will do as much research as possible before a trip - searching forums, asking questions, reading reviews. Usually, that helps a lot to ensure a smooth, enjoyable holiday and things seldom go wrong. But there's always a first for everything.

Lin Heung Tea House, established in 1928, is one restaurant that seems to be mentioned in every other guide book. People rave about how it is traditional and authentic, and how it offers a true blue dim sum experience from decades past.

 

That sounds wonderful, except that no one told me that back in those times, eating dim sum was such a stressful affair. When our party of eight arrived, we were told to find our own table in the jam-packed room, where every single table was already crammed with locals and tourists alike, enjoying their morning tea and/or engrossed in newspapers. It was a real challenge, especially for a large group like ours, but we somehow managed to get seated, together.

Little did we realise that the nightmare had just begun.

It was initially a delight to see that little push carts carrying baskets of dim sum were still being used in Lin Heung. Such push carts are a diminishing sight in dim sum restaurants not just in Hong Kong, but also in Singapore where we're from.

Any sense of anticipation soon gave way to impatience when we realised that none of those push carts were making their way to our table, which happened to be a distance from the kitchen.

Then we realised that apart from seats, we were also supposed to grab our own food. Each dim sum cart barely got out of the kitchen before it was hijacked by hungry diners, all with outstretched arms trying to reach whatever bamboo basket they could lay hands on, never mind what was actually in the basket.

We had no choice but to join in the madness. Even though Singaporeans are quite notorious for being kiasu (hokkien for "afraid to lose"), we found that we were not fast (or rough) enough compared to many of the other diners. We lost many times over and had very little to eat.

Here are two of the very few dishes that we managed to snag. The other food were gobbled down before any pictures could be taken - we waited too long and were too famished!

In all, we didn't find any of the food particularly spectacular or memorable. Or perhaps we were just too traumatised to enjoy ourselves.

Defeated and still half-hungry after a tiring fight on the dim sum battlefield, we adjourned to Yung Kee down the road for part two of brunch that day.

If I could sum up my experience at Lin Heung in one word, it would be this: chaotic. If anyone is wondering, yes, this was a lot worse than eating at Tim Ho Wan, where I at least got to enjoy the great food, as much as I wanted!

We laughed off the experience and it didn't taint our holiday. But it's safe to assume that we won't be back anytime soon.

Try it at your own risk!

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Lin Heung Tea House (蓮香樓)
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=1868
Add: 160-164 Wellington Street, Central
         中環威靈頓街160-164 號
Tel: 2544 4556
Open: 6.00am–11.30pm daily (closed 4.30pm–5.30pm)